Poets House Showcase FAQ

What is the Poets House Showcase?

The only event of its kind, the annual Poets House Showcase is a free exhibition each summer featuring new poetry and poetry-related books published in the United States over the previous 18 months.

Each year, the Showcase includes over 800 presses, from commercial publisher to university press to small press. Displaying more than 3,000 poetry works—including books by individual authors, anthologies, chapbooks, artists’ books, prose works, multimedia, and more—the Poets House Showcase is a diverse and inclusive exhibition in which books from small presses receive the same care and attention as those from major publishers.

2019 marked the 27th anniversary of the Showcase, which began in 1992 and has continued to grow ever since.

When is this year’s Showcase?

Due to ongoing construction on our space after a major flood, the 28th annual Poets House Showcase’s date is yet to be announced—stay tuned!

Why submit to the Showcase?

Our annual Showcase serves as a living record of each year’s new poetry books, making each publication freely accessible to the public. Books contributed to the Showcase are all displayed in an interactive exhibition in Kray Hall for over a month, organized by publisher, so poets, readers, editors, and the broader poetry community can read, browse, and discover.

All Showcase books are added to our online catalog and our permanent collection, becoming part of one of the largest freely accessible independent poetry collections in the country. The full-length exhibition catalog we post online in tandem with the exhibit lists every book and author, grouped by publisher, putting all poetry works on an equal footing and enhancing the findability of individual presses and books. You can download exhibition catalogs for the 2019 Poets House Showcase and 2018 Poets House Showcase.

When should I send my press’s books to ensure they are included?

We accept donations year-round, not just in the months preceding the Showcase. Early contributions are encouraged!

What books qualify to be included in the Poets House Showcase?

Any poetry book or poetry-related book published from 2019 to 2022 qualifies to be exhibited in the next Showcase! This includes prose, such as books of essays, criticism, and biography on poets, as well as poetry in any format, such as chapbooks, broadsides, pamphlets, artists’ books, multimedia works, and even objects containing poetry. Books from both major presses and small presses are accepted, as well as self-published books. Journals and magazines do not qualify, nor do foreign-language materials that do not contain an English translation.

Where do I send my books?

If you would like to donate publications to the next Poets House Showcase, please mail a single copy of each book you would like exhibited to:

• ATTN: Showcase Librarian
• Poets House
• 10 River Terrace
• New York, NY 10282

Each donation is acknowledged by our librarian, although there may be some delay in the months before the Showcase due to the heavy volume of materials arriving each day. If you haven’t received a message that your book has arrived by three to four weeks after expected delivery, you may wish to reach out to ensure that the package hasn’t been lost.

Do I need to send a donation form or publicity materials?

No paperwork is needed for Showcase books. To streamline our response time to your donation, please include your email address so we can acknowledge receipt of your book(s). If you need a record of your donation for tax purposes, you may include a donation form.

How many copies should I send?

All we need is one copy of each book!

What happens to publications after they are exhibited?

After the Poets House Showcase ends, all books published in the same year as the Showcase will be displayed in a prominent section of the library for the next year, then added to the Showcase the following year, before joining our permanent collection. All books published in the previous year or earlier are added to our permanent collection of over 70,000 poetry titles, where any visitor may read them, and our online catalog, where readers, researchers, and members of other libraries can find them.

Has my book, or my press’s book, already been submitted to the Showcase?

Please contact us regarding this or any other question about the Showcase.